Lakewood

The City of Lakewood is the second largest city in Pierce County and is conveniently located between Olympia to the south and Seattle to the north. The city is home to nearly 60,000 residents and is the host community to Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) and Camp Murray.

The area is bordered by major roadways including I-5. In the winter months, nearby communities are impacted by wood smoke from residential wood combustion. Transportation-related emissions and wood smoke heavily contribute to air pollution in Lakewood and specific neighborhoods in the area are disproportionally impacted. We regularly monitor air quality at our nearby stationary monitoring site at 7802 South L Street in Tacoma. 

Community Engagement

We have been working with the community and a variety of community-led organizations to understand the needs and concerns of residents, and to offer education and awareness about air pollution. Some of our recent community engagement activities are listed below. 

  • We regularly participate in the monthly Community Collaboration meetings hosted by the City of Lakewood.
  • We have worked with community-led organizations to distribute DIY air filters and provide resources for residents to be prepared for summer wildfire smoke events. Learn more about DIY air filters. 
  • We participated in the 17th Annual Lakewood Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration by hosting a table that celebrated and highlighted African American "Hidden Heroes” of Environmental Science. You can learn more about the event on our community blog "What Do We Look Like in the Eyes of Injustice?"
  • We hosted an interactive booth at the Lochburn Middle School's Science Fair STEM night. Our table demonstrated an experiment to explain atmospheric inversion, a phenomenon in which a layer of the atmosphere where air temperature increases with height. You can read more about the event and why STEM is cool on our blog. 
  • We have partnered with the Tillicum Community Center to host a Purple Air sensor that provides real time measurements of air quality at a hyper local scale. Check out current sensor locations and pollution levels on our sensor map.  

The images below are some community events and partnerships we have been involved with and hope to do more in the future. 

Community Partners

Springbrook Connections Full Color Logo Opens in new window

TillicumCCLogo Opens in new window